Ji Bu

Ji Bu
General of the Western Han dynasty
Born	(unknown)
Died	(unknown)
Names
Traditional Chinese	季布
Simplified Chinese	季布
Pinyin	Jì Bù
Wade–Giles	Chi Pu

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ji.

Ji Bu (birth and death dates unknown) was a Chinese military general of the early Western Han dynasty. He was from Xiaxiang (下相; present-day Sucheng District, Suqian, Jiangsu). He previously served under Xiang Yu, a warlord who engaged Liu Bang (Emperor Gao), the founder of the Han dynasty, in a four-year-long power struggle historically known as the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC). After Xiang Yu's defeat and death, Ji Bu became a fugitive of the Han Empire and had a price placed on his head by Emperor Gaozu. However, the emperor eventually pardoned him after being persuaded by Xiahou Ying and recruited him to serve in the Han government as a "Palace Assistant" (郎中). He was promoted to the position of "General of the Household" (中郎將) after Emperor Hui ascended the throne, and was appointed as the Administrator (郡守) of Hedong Commandery during the reign of Emperor Wen.

Anecdote

The Chinese idiom yi nuo qian jin (traditional Chinese: 一諾千金; simplified Chinese: 一诺千金; pinyin: yī nuò qiān jīn; literally: "a promise; a thousand pieces of gold"), which is used to describe a situation where a promise is kept, was derived from a saying about Ji Bu: "a hundred jin of gold is nothing compared to a promise from Ji Bu".

References

• Sima Qian. Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji) vol. 100.